A timeline of Trump's and Elon Musk's relationship

Many of the same people who hate Donald Trump also hate Elon Musk, who has himself allegedly faced threats to his life, writing, “Two people (separate occasions) have already tried to kill me in the past 8 months. They were arrested with guns about 20 mins drive from Tesla HQ in Texas.”

The relationship between Trump and Musk has been a complicated one. There are many facets to it: two political players willing to depart from the status quo, two rebellious cultural icons railing against liberal hegemony, two business moguls in charge of competing social media platforms, two wild men who angered the establishment, with a bull's-eye on their heads from the corporate media.

We were roughly an inch away from a hellish dystopia, unlike anything ever predicted. A successful assassination would have decisively ended American cohesion, the limits of what our nation can endure.

A brief timeline

In the days before the 2016 presidential election, Musk told CNBC, “I feel a bit stronger that [Trump] is not the right guy. He doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States.”

That December, Musk joined a Presidential Advisory Forum, where he offered advice about an array of political issues. His tone was markedly centrist.

Musk still wasn’t political at that point.

The hatred of Trump grew and grew, especially among Hollywood elites. In May 2017, Kathy Griffin posed with a mock version of Donald Trump’s severed head.

In June 2017, following Trump’s announcement about withdrawing from the Paris agreement on climate change, Musk left the Presidential Advisory position.

The media’s hostility toward Trump grew increasingly more violent in tone, like Paul Krugman's proclamation that “Donald Trump Is Trying to Kill You.”

Then came 2020. In January of that year, before life spun into utter chaos, Trump gave an interview to CNBC. In it, he praised Musk, calling him “one of our great geniuses," on the level of Thomas Edison. Then COVID hit. And that May, Trump came to Musk’s defense in a dispute about Tesla factory closures.

Then: January 6, 2021.

Over the next year, the relationship again soured, with Trump announcing that he would launch a Twitter alternative.

In February 2022, Trump made his first post on Truth Social. That April, Musk said, “Truth Social (terrible name) exists because Twitter censored free speech,” adding that the platform should instead be called “Trumpet.”

In May, Musk floated the possibility of reinstating Trump’s Twitter account, describing the ban as a "morally bad decision" that was "foolish to the extreme.”

At a rally in Anchorage, Alaska, in July 2022, Trump called Elon a “bulls**t artist” and questioned his ability to buy Twitter.

In response to a tweet from Breitbart News, Musk said that “it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.”

About two months later, Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion. Trump said that he was “very happy” to see Musk at the helm of Twitter, adding that the company was now in “sane hands.”

In June 2022, Musk told Bloomberg that he was still undecided. Shortly after, he cozied up to Ron DeSantis.

August 8: the Mar-a-Lago raid. Then, in November 2022, X reinstated Trump’s Twitter account after nearly two years of suspension.

In May 2023, DeSantis finally announced his presidential bid, on Musk’s platform, as what was quickly labeled the Twitter Spaces meltdown.

The relationship has thawed markedly in the last year. In March 2024, Musk flew to Florida for a meeting with Trump, possibly concerning a contribution from the Space X founder.

In May, the Wall Street Journal described Trump's and Musk’s “growing alliance.” Around the same time, CNN announced that Musk has been getting “Trumpier.” The outlet's incredibly cynical take is that Musk is in need of a challenge, namely the accumulation of “political capital commensurate with his extravagant wealth.”

News also spread that Musk was floating an advisory role to Trump if he were to win. And, as CNN, whined, "Musk has made supporting right-wing causes — and extremism, in some situations — increasingly central to his identity.” Check out CNN's proof:

He has vocally opposed Covid-19 lockdowns and embraced anti-vaccine ideology. He has elevated conservative speech on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter that he purchased in 2022. And he has pushed racist conspiracy theories about immigration.

Musk has also obsessed over the “woke mind virus,” a term used by some conservatives to describe progressive causes. And he has explicitly called for Republican victories at the ballot box, warning of the country’s impending “doom” if a “red wave” does not materialize in November.

Following the conviction of Trump on 34 felony counts , Elon remarked that “great damage was done today to the public’s faith in the American legal system.” He added, “If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter – motivated by politics, rather than justice – then anyone is at risk of a similar fate.”

Iron man

Then, on July 13, at a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, a gunman fired eight rounds at Trump, barely missing a head shot.

We were roughly an inch away from a hellish dystopia, unlike anything ever predicted. A successful assassination would have decisively ended American cohesion, the limits of what our nation can endure.

Musk posted that picture, one of the greatest images ever captured, with his announcement on X, “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.” It became the most iconic tweet of the historic event. Later, Musk added: “Last time America had a candidate this tough was Theodore Roosevelt.”

The day before the rally, Musk made a hefty donation to the pro-Trump America PAC. Musk has decided to join Trump and a growing counter-elite. It’s impossible to know how this will shake out, but it’s clear that Musk has put his fortune and future in danger by breaking with Washington and Silicon Valley elites to chart his own path. Judging by past experience, it’s a mistake to bet against him.